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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™
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- Exports (3)
- Gravity (3)
- Cultural Distance (2)
- Immigrants (2)
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- Export-intensification (1)
- Freight rates (1)
- Group selection (1)
- Immigrant-trade Link (1)
- Immigration; Intra-industry trade; Vertical/Horizontal Integration (1)
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- Imports (1)
- Job displacement (1)
- Land rights||Gender issues (1)
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- Powder River Basin coal (1)
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Articles 1 - 24 of 24
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Economic Effects Of Smoking Bans On Restaurants And Pubs, Barrie Craven, Michael L. Marlow
Economic Effects Of Smoking Bans On Restaurants And Pubs, Barrie Craven, Michael L. Marlow
Economics
The United Kingdom has recently enacted smoking bans in public places such as restaurants and pubs. Public health advocates argue that bans are necessary because non-smokers need protection from second-hand smoke. Advocates also claim that bans do not exert harm on owners because of a vast empirical literature showing that restaurants and bars in the United States never suffer harm following bans. This paper examines whether these claims are true by developing a model within the Coasian framework whereby owners of businesses have incentives to deal with smoking disputes between smokers and non-smokers. Our model demonstrates that it is incorrect …
State And Regional Variation In The Effects Of Trade On Job Displacement In The Us Manufacturing Sector, 1982-1999, Roger White
State And Regional Variation In The Effects Of Trade On Job Displacement In The Us Manufacturing Sector, 1982-1999, Roger White
Economics
Worker-level data from the 1984–2000 Displaced Worker Surveys are employed to examine the effects of trade on manufacturing workers’ probabilities of job displacement. Observed changes in import and export penetration rates yield increases in displacement probabilities for the North Central, Middle Atlantic and South Central regions yet lower displacement probabilities for the Plains/West and Pacific regions. Changes in import and export price indexes lead to increases in displacement probabilities for the Pacific, Southeast and Northeast regions and decreases for the South Central and Middle Atlantic regions. However, while the influences of imports and exports on job displacement vary considerably across …
Do Immigrants Counter The Effect Of Cultural Distance On Trade? Evidence From Us State-Level Exports, Roger White, Bedassa Tadesse
Do Immigrants Counter The Effect Of Cultural Distance On Trade? Evidence From Us State-Level Exports, Roger White, Bedassa Tadesse
Economics
We examine the effects of immigrants and cultural distance on US state-level exports, placing emphasis on the extent to which immigrants may offset the influence of cultural distance with respect to the initiation and intensification of exports. Our findings suggest that greater cultural differences between the US and immigrants’ home countries reduce both the likelihood that exporting occurs and, when exporting is taking place, the level of exports. Immigrants are found to exert pro-export effects that offset, at least partially, the trade-inhibiting effects of cultural distance. The estimated effects of both cultural distance and immigrants are found to be greater …
Why Multilevel Selection Matters, Alexander J. Field
Why Multilevel Selection Matters, Alexander J. Field
Economics
In spite of its checkered intellectual history, and in spite of the myriadproposals of alternative models that claim both to account for the range of humanbehavior and to dispense with the need for selection above the organism level, a mul-tilevel selection framework allowing for biological as well as cultural group selectionremains the only coherent means of accounting for the persistence and spread ofbehavioral inclinations which, at least upon first appearance at low frequency, wouldhave been biologically altruistic. This argument is advanced on three tracks: througha r eview of experimental and observational evidence inconsistent with a narrow ver-sion of rational choice …
Immigrants, Cultural Distance And Us State-Level Exports Of Cultural Products, Roger White, Bedassa Tadesse
Immigrants, Cultural Distance And Us State-Level Exports Of Cultural Products, Roger White, Bedassa Tadesse
Economics
We examine the relationships between immigrants, cultural distance and state-level exports, employing state-specific immigrant stocks and total US immigrant stocks, separately, and a measure of cultural distance recently introduced by [Tadesse, B., & White, R. (2008b). Cultural distance as a determinant of bilateral trade flows: Do immigrants counter the effect of cultural distance? Applied Economic Letters]. A positive link between immigrants and aggregate exports is reported and, while cultural distance is found to reduce exports, immigrants partially offset the effects of cultural distance by increasing both the intensity of existing exports and the likelihood that exporting occurs. However, heterogeneity in …
What Explains The Increased Utilization Of Powder River Basin Coal In Electric Power Generation?, Shelby Gerking, Stephen F. Hamilton
What Explains The Increased Utilization Of Powder River Basin Coal In Electric Power Generation?, Shelby Gerking, Stephen F. Hamilton
Economics
This article examines possible explanations for increased utilization of Powder River Basin (PRB) coal in electric power generation that occurred over the last two decades. Did more stringent environmental policy motivate electric power plants to switch to less polluting fuels? Or, did greater use of PRB coal occur because relative price changes altered input markets in favor of this fuel. A key finding is that factors other than environmental policy such as the decline in railroad freight rates together with elastic demand by power plants were major contributors to the increased utilization of this fuel.
Vulnerability To Climate Change In South Africa’S Limpopo River Basin, Sharon Shewmake
Vulnerability To Climate Change In South Africa’S Limpopo River Basin, Sharon Shewmake
Economics
This paper uses farmers' responses to exogenous weather shocks in South Africa's Limpopo River Basin to gauge how farmers are apt to respond to future climate change-induced shocks, in particular drought. Droughts are expected to increase in both frequency and intensity as a result of climate change. This study examines the costs of drought today and who it affects the most, in an effort to guide policy adaptations in the future. A combination of descriptive statistics and econometric analysis is used to approximate the potential impact of droughts on rural South African households. This paper also estimates household vulnerability. After …
Experiments With Arbitrage Across Assets, Eric O'N. Fisher
Experiments With Arbitrage Across Assets, Eric O'N. Fisher
Economics
No abstract provided.
Cultural Distance And The Us Immigrant-Trade Link, Roger White, Bedassa Tadesse
Cultural Distance And The Us Immigrant-Trade Link, Roger White, Bedassa Tadesse
Economics
Using data from the World and the European Values Surveys, we calculate cultural distances between the US and 54 immigrant home countries and examine the influences of cultural distance and immigrant populations on US imports from and exports to immigrants’ home countries during the years 1997–2004. Our study indicates that, for both US imports and exports, the trade‐enhancing effect of immigrants partially offsets the trade‐inhibiting effect of cultural distance. Further, decomposing our measure of cultural distance into two component dimensions and revisiting the immigrant–trade relationship, we find significant variation in the extent to which immigrants counter the trade‐inhibiting influences of …
The Impact Of The Second World War On U.S. Productivity Growth, Alexander J. Field
The Impact Of The Second World War On U.S. Productivity Growth, Alexander J. Field
Economics
This paper considers the productivity impact on the US economy of the period of war mobilization and demobilization lasting from 1941 to 1948. Optimists have pointed to learning by doing in military production and spin-offs from military R & D as the basis for asserting a substantial positive effect of military conflict on potential output. Productivity data for the private non-farm economy are not consistent with this view, as they show slower total factor productivity (TFP) growth between 1941 and 1948 than before or after. The paper argues for adopting a less rosy perspective on the supply side effects of …
Expected Utility Inequalities: Theory And Applications, Eduardo Zambrano
Expected Utility Inequalities: Theory And Applications, Eduardo Zambrano
Economics
Suppose we know the utility function of a risk averse decision maker who values a risky prospect X at a price CE. Based on this information alone I develop upper bounds for the tails of the probabilistic belief about X of the decision maker. In the paper I also illustrate how to use these expected utility bounds in a variety of applications, which include the estimation of risk measures from observed data, option valuation, and the study of credit risk.
Import Source Reallocation And Us Manufacturing Employment, 1972-2001, Roger White
Import Source Reallocation And Us Manufacturing Employment, 1972-2001, Roger White
Economics
Examining the US manufacturing sector, we focus on the potential employment effects of shifts in import sources from relatively high- to low-income nations. Data for 384 6-digit NAICS US manufacturing industries that span the years 1972–2001 are utilized. Increased import penetration is found to reduce both production and non-production employment; however, such job loss is countered by export-led job creation. Extending the literature, we report that reallocation of import sources from high- to low-income nations reduces manufacturing employment, and when shifts in import sources coincide with rising import penetration the result is an acceleration of job loss.
Darfur: Rainfall And Conflict, Michael Kevane, Leslie C. Gray
Darfur: Rainfall And Conflict, Michael Kevane, Leslie C. Gray
Economics
Data on rainfall patterns only weakly corroborate the claim that climate change explains the Darfur conflict that began in 2003 and has claimed more than 200,000 lives and displaced more than two million persons. Rainfall in Darfur did not decline significantly in the years prior to the eruption of major conflict in 2003; rainfall exhibited a flat trend in the thirty-years preceding the conflict (1972-2002). The rainfall evidence suggests instead a break around 1971. Rainfall is basically stationary over the pre- and post-1971 sub-periods. The break is larger for the more northerly rainfall stations, and is less noticeable for En …
Epistemic Conditions For Rationalizability, Eduardo Zambrano
Epistemic Conditions For Rationalizability, Eduardo Zambrano
Economics
In this paper I present conditions, not involving common knowledge of rationality, that lead to (correlated) rationalizability. The basic observation is that, if the actual world belongs to a set of states where the set Z of action profiles is played, everyone is rational and it is mutual knowledge that the action profiles played are in Z, then the actions played at the actual world are rationalizable actions. Alternatively, if at the actual world the support of the conjecture of player i is Di, there is mutual knowledge of: (i) the game being played, (ii) that …
Honestly, Who Else Would Fund Such Research? Reflections Of A Non-Smoking Scholar, Michael L. Marlow
Honestly, Who Else Would Fund Such Research? Reflections Of A Non-Smoking Scholar, Michael L. Marlow
Economics
Many public-health researchers are quick to raise charges of bias to explain away the few studies that reach politically incorrect conclusions. Claims of bias are often thrown at researchers who are funded by the industries targeted for aggressive intervention. This paper discusses whether it makes sense that bias is a relevant issue only when researchers have connections to private industry or find fault with government intervention. I focus on the issue of whether smoking bans harm any restaurant or bar owners. This area of research has experienced a large number of claims of bias and deception, leveled against research that …
Do Smoking Bans Reduce Heart Attacks?, Michael L. Marlow
Do Smoking Bans Reduce Heart Attacks?, Michael L. Marlow
Economics
Recent newspaper articles have heralded studies concluding that smoking bans lead to dramatic decreases in the annual incidence of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Coupled with studies concluding that bans never harm businesses and that environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) significantly endangers health of nonsmokers, studies claiming AMI reduction have provided governments with additional evidence to support bans in the name of public health. Some communities have expanded bans from workplaces to include parks, beaches, and other open areas, based on this growing body of evidence. This commentary argues that, as with distorted claims regarding economic harm and ETS, recent studies concluding …
Expanding Philanthropy’S Reach, Michael E. Swack
Expanding Philanthropy’S Reach, Michael E. Swack
Economics
When New York’s F.B. Heron Foundation, a private, grant-making institution, was created, it had a mandate to invest assets and donate 5 percent of returns annually to help low-income people and communities to help themselves.1 The year was 1992, the cusp of one of the greatest economic booms in U.S. history. But as Heron’s asset base swelled, 5 percent for community work began to look insufficient to help the many Americans who were missing out on the boom. In a 1996 meeting, directors realized they were spending too much time reviewing a particular investment manager’s performance and too little time …
Exploring A Us Immigrant – Intra-Industry Trade Link, Roger White
Exploring A Us Immigrant – Intra-Industry Trade Link, Roger White
Economics
We extend two strands of literature: the determinants of intra-industry trade (IIT) and the effect of immigration on trade flows. Product-level (HS10) data for US trade with 62 nations spanning the years 1989–2001 are used to construct industry-level (HS6) IIT values. A positive relationship is reported between immigration and the level of aggregate IIT. Immigration also increases vertical IIT and horizontal IIT; however, coefficients are of greater magnitude for the latter measure. Examining variation across home countries, immigrants from lower income countries appear to exert a greater influence on IIT measures than do immigrants from higher income countries.
Ranking Economics Journals, Economics Departments, And Economists Using Teaching-Focused Research Productivity, Melody Lo, M.C. Sunny Wong, Franklin G. Mixon Jr.
Ranking Economics Journals, Economics Departments, And Economists Using Teaching-Focused Research Productivity, Melody Lo, M.C. Sunny Wong, Franklin G. Mixon Jr.
Economics
This paper constructs new rankings of economics journals, economics departments, and economists that employ a measure of teaching-focused research productivity, an area of growing importance in recent years. The ranking methodologies presented here use information from articles that were published from 1991 through the early part of 2005 within the "Journal of Economic Literature'"s "economic education" classifications (A200-A290). The "Journal of Economic Literature" tops the list of journals, followed by the "Review of Economics and Statistics and the American Economic Review". Among the top institutions are Vanderbilt University, Indiana University, and the University of Wisconsin. Others that rank high here, …
Land Tenure And Rental In Western Sudan, Michael Kevane, Leslie C. Gray
Land Tenure And Rental In Western Sudan, Michael Kevane, Leslie C. Gray
Economics
This paper reports on aspects of land tenure in western Sudan, especially the nature of tenure insecurity and the functioning of the land rental market. The active land rental market accounted for about one-third of cultivated land. Patterns of land rental transactions, and tests of the importance of insecurity in renting land, where the owner may not be able to reclaim land rented out, do not support the presumption that rental markets perform poorly. The role of the sheikh as administrator of village land, and the claims of large landowners to vast tracts, are, however, important political problems that must …
Diminished Access, Diverted Exclusion: Women And Land Tenure In Sub-Saharan Africa, Michael Kevane, Leslie C. Gray
Diminished Access, Diverted Exclusion: Women And Land Tenure In Sub-Saharan Africa, Michael Kevane, Leslie C. Gray
Economics
Increasing commercialization, population growth and concurrent increases in land value have affected women's land rights in Africa. Most of the literature concentrates on how these changes have led to an erosion of women's rights. This paper examines some of the processes by which women's rights to land are diminishing. First, we examine cases where rights previously utilized have become less important; that is, the incidence of exercising rights has decreased. Second, we investigate how women's rights to land decrease as the public meanings underlying the social interpretation and enforcement of rights are manipulated. Third, we examine women's diminishing access to …
Burkina Faso, Michael Kevane
Burkina Faso, Michael Kevane
Economics
Burkina Faso's rich civic institutions are rooted in the history of the precolonial Mossi kingdoms, the traditions of stateless societies in the southwest, the Islamic brotherhoods that structure the lives of Muslims, the hundred-year presence of the Roman Catholic Church and Protestant missionary societies, and popular struggles for representation during the colonial and postindependence periods. This heritage is a constant feature of contemporary political discourse, with critics accusing the current regime of betraying the country's political traditions. The regime's defenders emphasize its continuity with the past and its efforts to restore civic life after the excesses of the revolutionary period …
How Much Do Village Libraries Increase Reading? Results Of A Survey Of 10th Graders In Burkina Faso, Michael Kevane, Alain Joseph Sissao
How Much Do Village Libraries Increase Reading? Results Of A Survey Of 10th Graders In Burkina Faso, Michael Kevane, Alain Joseph Sissao
Economics
This paper offers an estimate of the impact of small public libraries in villages in Burkina Faso on reading habits. A survey of secondary school students was conducted in March 2005. Students were selected in eight villages that matched the criteria ‘with library’ and ‘without library’. Overall the reading level of students in the sample was quite low, but the results indicate that the presence of a well-functioning library leads to an increase in reading on the order of 50%.
Economic Systems In Africa, Michael Kevane
Economic Systems In Africa, Michael Kevane
Economics
An enormous variety of experiences and possibilities characterized African economic systems at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Small village communities continued to till the soil and raise goats, sheep, cows, and chickens using the same techniques of their grandfathers, renewing all the while traditions of social solidarity and hospitality that have characterized rural Africa for centuries.Overhead, however,multinational corporations owned and operated by African nationals organized transcontinental air travel, microwave and satellite transmissions, and cell phone networks. Africa globalized with the rest of the world, though in different ways. Exports of goods and services stagnated even as migration generated new …